The present invention relates to the feeding of individual document sheets to be scanned in a document scanner and, more particularly to the document delivery system which receives the scanned documents and, if desired, routes the individual sheets back to the scanning region for duplex scanning, i.e., scanning of both sides of the document sheet. As used herein, the term "document scanning device" is intended to be broadly defined to include, but not necessarily be limited to, stand alone document copiers, facsimile machines, document scanning machines and combinations of such units.
Automatic document feed and delivery systems in large copiers capable of duplex scanning generally require a document feed path that is as long as the document that is to inverted during duplex scanning. While this is not a great disadvantage in a large piece of multi-user office equipment, in a small multi-function peripheral copier or scanning apparatus, it is of great impact on the footprint size of the apparatus. Large footprint size requires significant desk space which must be kept available. In such units, the length of the duplexing section alone approaches half of the document length. This is considerably large when duplex scanning legal size documents for example. Other disadvantages of a longer duplexing path are added cost due to additional rollers and guides to manage the extra length of media and the increased potential of document jamming due to the increased complexity. One manner of avoiding a long duplexing path is to eject the document outside the duplicating apparatus onto a tray which -projects from the side of the machine. This solution also consumes space and has the added disadvantage of increased propensity for damage to the document while it is outside of the protective confines of the unit.
It is accordingly of considerable advantage to provide a more compact document scanning device by utilizing a more compact duplexing section.